25/08/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures edged higher on Friday, rising 3.6 percent in a second straight weekly gain as global oilseed supply fears and rising export demand supported prices.

A crop tour continued to give evidence of the devastation caused by the U.S. grain belt's worst drought in half a century, which has lifted soybean prices to all-time highs in recent weeks. Fears of tighter soybean oil supply have spurred a shift in vegetable oil demand to the cheaper palm oil.

Corn and soy fields in Iowa, the No.1 growing state for both crops, have fallen victim to the historic drought, which is expected to drag national yields below the government's latest projections, according to the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour.

"The market is trying to catch up with soyoil, especially as its premium over palm oil is at more than $250 per tonne," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

"Exports should improve further. The market has further room to move higher, it is still trading in a tight range of 3,050-3,100 ringgit."   

The benchmark November 2012 contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.3 percent to close at 3,069 ringgit ($990) per tonne. Prices hit a high of 3,100 ringgit on Thursday, a level last seen on July 17.

Futures notched up a gain of 3.6 percent this week, the best weekly performance since July.

Total traded volumes stood at 26,872 lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

Malaysia's palm oil exports rose 6 percent for the Aug 1-20 period from a month ago, according to cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, on higher shipments to major food buyers China and India.

Traders will be watching for further indications on export trends as another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, releases its Aug 1-20 data together with Aug 1-25 data on Monday.

Planters are also concerned by a possible return of El Nino to South East Asia as the hot and dry weather pattern could hurt oil palm yields for major producers Indonesia and Malaysia.

Oil fell below $115 a barrel on Friday as signs of weakness in the global economy weighed on the demand outlook, although a host of supply-side concerns kept losses in check.

Other vegetable oil markets also traded higher on persistent U.S. dry weather fears.

By 1003 GMT, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for December delivery gained 0.7 percent and the most active January 2013 soyoil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange edged up 0.8 percent.      

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1005 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      SEP2    3030   +13.00    3020    3045     371
  MY PALM OIL      OCT2    3051   +10.00    3041    3073    2860
  MY PALM OIL      NOV2    3069    +8.00    3066    3097   17449
  CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3    8240  +148.00    8036    8244  589326
  CHINA SOYOIL     JAN3   10056   +78.00    9906   10060  496594
  CBOT SOY OIL     DEC2   57.14    +0.37   56.61   57.31    7905
  NYMEX CRUDE      OCT2   95.97    -0.30   95.41   96.28   20823

  Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
  CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
  Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
  Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
  ($1=3.10 ringgit)